Prime Minister Robert Abela’s recent comment about the need to discuss abortion in Malta is “certainly not an issue of vote mobilisation,” the Office of the Prime Minister told Lovin Malta.

Earlier this week, Abela declared that he’s going to be taking tough decisions on major Maltese pain points. One of these decisions, he said is the need for the country to discuss abortion maturely and without fear.

This prompted our curiosity: What does he mean by this comment? Why did he say it now? And what is he going to do to actualise this statement?

Naturally, Lovin Malta sent over these questions to the OPM in the hopes of obtaining a more concerte plan of action, and while we did not get that, Abela’s spokesperson did insist that the timing of his statement has nothing to do with the plummeting of Labour’s voting majority registered last Sunday.

“The PM had in fact mentioned the need for this discussion during the electoral campaign as well, and it is certainly thus not an issue of vote mobilisation,” the newsroom was told.

This is what we asked:

1. What will you do to spark discussion about abortion legislation in Malta?
2. Do you still think that the legal amendment to Malta’s blanket ban on abortion is sufficient?
3. What type of discussion do you want to see regarding abortion?
4. Why have you not prompted these discussions yet?
5. Why did you choose to call for these discussions now and not earlier? Is this in an attempt to mobilise disillusioned and progressive voters?

And this was the full response:

“The discussion on themes that society is and has been discussing informally for quite some time should never be repressed and, particularly on sensitive themes such as women’s rights, should not be dominated by politicians. The PM had in fact mentioned the need for this discussion during the electoral campaign as well, and it is certainly thus not an issue of vote mobilisation. The need for a discussion about euthanasia is an electoral pledge.”